Jack White performed with his daughter, Scarlett, during his concert in Nashville this week.
The teenager joined her dad on bass during a rendition of the White Stripes song “The Hardest Button to Button.” You can watch footage of the family collaboration now via White’s Instagram page.
White’s ex-wife and Scarlett’s mother, Karen Elson, also posted photos of the performance, writing in the caption, “Miss Scarlett Teresa White. My beautiful, kind, never wants to be the center of attention with a heart of solid gold daughter. What a sweet moment with her papa bear.”
Elson added, “I’ll stop embarrassing you now Scarlett.”
Jennifer Lopez was all smiles at the premiere of her new film, Shotgun Wedding — and shared a few things about her new album and a potential third movie with husband Ben Affleck.
Speaking with Variety, the hitmaker teased This Is Me… Now, which will become her first album in nine years. Although she has yet to confirm a release date, she did reveal, “The album is done and we’re just prepping the best time to put it out and roll it out little by little and deciding how we want to do that.”
“It’s such a special project because it’s sort of a culmination of this 20-year journey from one album to the next,” she continued. This Is Me… Now was announced on the 20th anniversary of her This Is Me… Then effort, which was about her romance with now-husband Affleck.
The couple first dated in the early 2000s before calling off their engagement in 2004. They rekindled their romance in 2021 and wed in July.
It was previously announced the new effort will be filled with “confessional songs, reflections on the trials of her past, [and] upbeat celebrations of love with her signature powerhouse vocals.”
On the topic of reunions, Jennifer was asked if she’d be interested in starring in another movie with her husband, to which she responded, “Maybe, maybe! Absolutely!” She and Ben co-starred in the 2003 movie Gigli and the 2004 film Jersey Girl, and Jennifer hinted she’s aware fans want them to pull a hat trick.
But whether or not they’ll have time to do a third movie together has yet to be seen. Said Jen, “We talk. We love being together and working together so, yeah, you never know.”
This year marks the 50 anniversary of Pink Floyd’s iconic album TheDark Side of the Moon, and they are celebrating the occasion with a new box set, and a whole lot more.
The Dark Side of the Moon deluxe box set will be released March 24 on CD and gatefold vinyl, and will include a newly remastered version of the album, as well as Blu-Ray and DVD audio with the original mix and remastered stereo versions. There will also be a new Blu-Ray disc and CD of the classic concert “‘The Dark Side of the Moon — Live at Wembley Empire Pool, London, 1974.” You can pre-order the box set now.
Also on March 24, the Wembley concert will be issued on its own for first time, both on CD and, for the first time, on vinyl. And, as previously reported, there will also be a new book, Pink Floyd — The Dark Side of the Moon: 50th Anniversary, featuring rare and previously unseen photos taken during the Dark Side of the Moon tour, which ran from 1972 to 1975. The book will also be included in the box set.
The band is also marking anniversary with a new competition, asking fans to create animated music videos for any of the songs on the album. Entries are due by November 30 and animators can enter up to 10 videos, although only one per song. The winner will be selected by a panel of experts, which includes Pink Floyd’s Nick Mason. PinkFloyd.com has more info.
But that’s not all. In March, a new The Dark Side of the Moon planetarium exhibit is set to launch at planetariums around the world, featuring 42 minutes of the album accompanied by visuals of the solar system.
Fall Out Boy guitarist Joe Trohman is “taking a break” from the band to care for his mental health.
In a statement posted overnight to the “Dance, Dance” group’s Twitter, Trohman writes, “Neil Young once howled that it’s better to burn out than to fade away. But I can tell you unequivocally that burning out is dreadful.”
“Without divulging all the details, I must disclose that my mental health has rapidly deteriorated over the past several years,” Trohman continues. “So, to avoid fading away and never returning, I will be taking a break from work which regrettably includes stepping away from Fall Out Boy for a spell.”
Trohman adds that the decision pains him, especially since Fall Out Boy just announced a new album, So Much (for) Stardust.
“So, the question remains: Will I return to the fold? Absolutely, one-hundred percent,” Trohman assures. “In the meantime, I must recover which means putting myself and my mental health first.”
He concludes, “Thank you to everyone, including my bandmates and family, for understanding and respecting this difficult, but necessary, decision.”
Trohman previously opened up about his mental health in his memoir, None of This Rocks, which was released last year. He also hosted a mental health podcast called I Hate Myself.
Meanwhile, Fall Out Boy performed without Trohman Wednesday night on ABC’s Jimmy Kimmel Live!, giving the live debut to the lead So Much (for) Stardust single, “Love from the Other Side.” The album is due out March 24.
When Bon Jovi released “Livin’ on a Prayer” back in 1986, the idea of digital music platforms didn’t exist, but the hit single has since gone on to become one of the most-streamed songs from the ’80s. And on Instagram Wednesday, Jon Bon Jovi celebrated its official Spotify certification for one billion streams.
While opening up a large box containing his new Spotify award — which looks like a shiny metal bowl attached to a plaque — an amused Jon says, “Streaming is the new ‘it,’ right? This is unbelievable, and I’m really grateful for it.”
After reading the words on the plaque — “one billion streams for ‘Livin’ on a Prayer'” — Jon pronounces the honor to be “pretty cool,” and, addressing the fans, says, “Thank you, you guys!”
“Livin’ on a Prayer” is Bon Jovi’s signature song: It was their second number-one hit, and has been certified three-times RIAA Platinum for sales of three million units. It has 996 million views on YouTube.
(CHICAGO) — A 21-year-old man with special needs was shot three times, including once in the head, while he waited for the bus to go to school in Chicago, according to police.
He’s in a hospital in critical condition, Chicago Police Commander Don Jerome said at a news conference.
The victim’s 15-year-old brother, who also has special needs, and the brothers’ father were with him at the bus stop when gunfire rang out around 6:30 a.m. Wednesday, Jerome said. The brother and father were not hurt.
Police are looking for three or four suspects who were seen approaching the area, firing multiple shots and fleeing on foot, Jerome said.
No arrests have been made and police are asking for the community’s help.
Authorities believe the suspects were gang members who “likely thought that the victims were rival gang members,” Jerome said.
He stressed, “None of the family involved — the father nor the 15-year-old nor the 21-year-old victim — have any gang affiliation whatsoever.”
“No one should be shot, let alone shot while standing waiting for a school bus. No father should see his children shot like this,” Jerome said.
(NEW YORK) — Spice jars are among the top germ-ridden surfaces in the kitchen, according to a recent study.
The study, commissioned by the Department of Agriculture’s Food Safety and Inspection Service, looked to determine the prevalence and degree of cross-contamination over a variety of kitchen surfaces during meal preparation.
Researchers observed 371 people, who were all instructed to season and cook with raw, ground turkey patties that contained a harmless tracer virus called MS2 in kitchen settings of various sizes.
Overall, 48% of spice containers that were sampled showed evidence of the bacteria from the turkey, indicating MS2 cross-contamination. According to the findings, spice containers had the highest MS2 concentrations across kitchen surfaces, making them a key vehicle for cross-contamination.
After the directed meal was prepared, 12 areas throughout the kitchen were swabbed for testing, including kitchen utensils, cleaning areas, kitchen surfaces and two discretionary samples, which were “taken based on researcher observation during meal preparation and represented possible cross-contamination hot spots.”
The swabs used to collect samples were put over ice and transported to the North Carolina State University food microbiology laboratory, where they were processed for MS2 detection.
In between each individual observation, each kitchen was sanitized with 10% bleach solution for one minute before wiping the surface with a clean, disposable paper towel.
The study found that in most of the meal prep, two or fewer swabs showed evidence of cross-contamination, but 81% of the time, one or more surfaces were positive for MS2. The authors said they believe people are mindful of wiping down surface areas, along with things like cutting boards, sinks, cabinet handles, but may not think about those spice jars.
To keep your spice containers clean and free of germs from cross-contamination, experts suggest washing hands often during food prep and making sure to wipe down any spice bottles used.
(NEW YORK) — “Extreme” drought has been completely eliminated in California for the first time in nearly three years, according to the U.S. Drought Monitor.
While the drastic change for California has happened over the last few weeks, the most recent batch of rain has completely eliminated the “extreme” drought category. However, while smaller reservoirs have returned to averages, many larger ones still remain low, according to experts. And it’s still “too early to tell if the wet weather is enough to end the drought.”
This is the first time since April 2020 that there has been no “extreme” drought in California.
While drought in the western U.S. continues to improve overall, the Colorado River Basin lags behind the Sierra Nevadas in terms of recovery.
It will take several seasons such as this one to help eliminate the drought in the area, which includes reservoirs Lake Mead and Lake Powell.
The National Weather Service Weather Prediction Center recently released top totals from the parade of storms that moved into California from Dec. 26 through Jan. 17. The top snow total was 240 inches in Mammoth Mountain and near Honeydew, California, nearly 4 feet of rain fell (47.7 inches).
The California snowpack continues to remain above normal for the entire season. When looking at season to date, parts of the Sierra Nevada Mountains are nearly three times their average for this time of year.
Colorado River Basin
The Colorado River Basin — parts of Southern California, Utah, Arizona, Colorado, New Mexico, Nevada and Wyoming — has not had the large rain totals seen in Northern California, but the region is having an excellent season for snow and rain.
Some parts of the basin are now seeing their wettest season on record and this will greatly alleviate the drought in some areas.
Colorado’s current snowpack is at 128%. Some parts of Utah have reported over 200% of their snow-water equivalent compared to average. When the snow melts, it will eventually flow into the Colorado River and help alleviate reservoir stress.
However, critical reservoirs in the southwest U.S., like Lake Mead and Lake Powell, need this rainy and snowy pattern to happen for multiple seasons in a row. Daniel Swain, a climate expert at University of California, Los Angeles, told ABC News last year that it could take until the end of this century to eradicate this deep of a drought.
Additionally, it may take time before the relief hits the reservoirs since some of it comes from snowmelt. Lake Mead is currently at 28% capacity, which is well below where the lake has been at this time in the last few years.
TheRolling Stones have taken the next step on social media – they’ve joined TikTok. The Rock and Roll Hall of Famers posted their first videos Thursday, sharing a trio of classic clips featuring songs like “Start Me Up,” “Angie” and “It’s Only Rock ‘N’ Roll (But I Like It).”
Stones fans on TikTok can now access the band’s full catalog on the platform, and will be able to create covers and remixes using tunes available on the TikTok Sounds Page. There will also be a new guest playlist on TikTok curated by the band, including 44 classic Stones tracks.
With the “Start Me Up” clip, the band urged fans to “move like the Stones” and share their creations. The “Angie” clip had them asking fans to share “covers, remixes, guitar solos, mashups…,” and for “It’s Only Rock ‘N’ Roll,” the Stones urged fans to dress like them, with the band promising to share their favorite creations on their page.
TikTok has launched the official hashtag, #TheRollingStones, to celebrate the band joining the site and make it easier for fans to share their creations.
And that’s not all. Stones frontman Mick Jagger is also planning to launch his own TikTok page, making him the second member of the band on the site after Keith Richards, who joined last year.
(NEW YORK) — When researchers learned that a class of drugs initially used to treat type 2 diabetes could also bring weight loss, the drugs Victoza and Ozempic gained popularity as a treatment option for obesity.
Given as daily or weekly injections, these drugs called GLP-1 RAs, help people produce insulin and lower the amount of sugar in the blood. First approved for use in type 2 diabetes patients in 2005 by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration, the medications were quickly noted to promote weight loss.
The FDA, in 2014, later approved a GLP-1 RA for chronic weight management. Additional drugs in the class have since been approved for weight loss.
Of the nearly 35 million Americans with type 2 diabetes, more than one in 10 were estimated to be taking these drugs in 2019, according to the Journal of the American Medical Association.
“I prescribe these medications 10 times per day,” Dr. Amanda Velazquez, director of Obesity Medicine at Cedars-Sinai Medical Center, told ABC News.
“Obesity is a chronic relapsing disease,” Velazquez added and said that the weight loss effects of the medications wear off after drug discontinuation.
Novo Nordisk, the pharmaceutical company that makes Ozempic, Victoza and another drug called Wegovy — which is specifically meant for weight loss — said last December, “While we recognize that some healthcare providers may be prescribing Ozempic for patients whose goal is to lose weight, it is up to the clinical discretion of each healthcare provider to choose the best treatment approach for their patients.”
Through the fall, there have been intermittent shortages of various dosages of Ozempic and Wegovy.
“There is high demand overall, more awareness of the medications because of their efficacy, and shortages in the supply chain with making the drug from manufacturers,” Velazquez said.
Off-label use of the drugs may be contributing to this shortage.
“It is very frustrating for everyone,” said Dr. Heather Sateia, assistant professor of medicine at Johns Hopkins Hospital, told ABC News. “Pharmacies are so short-staffed that they won’t let people know when it is back in stock so it is like a scavenger hunt- time-consuming and anxiety-provoking for patients.”
A recent study from from the University of Montpellier published in Diabetes Care looked at type 2 diabetes patients who were treated with GLP-1 RAs from 2006-2018 and identified a link between the long-term use of these drugs and a higher likelihood of thyroid cancer. Specifically, the study found that people who took the drugs for one to three years were 58% more likely to develop thyroid cancer. Medullary thyroid cancer, a rare form of the disease, carried an even higher risk, according to the study.
“The newer findings provide interesting additional data to this clinical discussion, though are not independently enough to set a new standard for screening,” Dr. Erik K. Alexander, chief of the Thyroid Section in the Division of Endocrinology, Diabetes, and Hypertension at Brigham and Women’s Hospital, told ABC News. “[These drugs] should only be used when the benefit of treatment outweighs known or suspected risk, and this assessment should be continually reconsidered by each patient with their physician on a regular basis.”
Forty-five thousand Americans are diagnosed with thyroid cancer, but it is notably not a death sentence according to the American Cancer Society. With surgery and therapy, five-year survival is 98% but this largely depends on the type of thyroid cancer and the stage of the disease. Medullary thyroid cancer has a relatively poor prognosis compared to the other types, according to the American Cancer Society.
In a statement, Novo Nordisk says extensive data from randomized trials, long-term studies, and real-world evidence “have not shown a causal relationship between use of GLP-1 receptor agonists and risk of thyroid tumors.”
The company “remains confident in the benefit risk profile of its products and remains committed to ensuring patient safety,” the statement said.
The drugs can sometimes cause nausea, injection site pain, and inflammation of the pancreas. Some patients taking concurrent diabetes medications can also experience low blood sugar levels.
Patients are currently monitored every three to four months with liver, diabetes, kidney, cholesterol, and electrolyte testing. Thyroid testing is currently not recommended.
“The data on thyroid cancer certainly gives me pause,” said Sateia. “There is not currently a recommendation for thyroid ultrasound or serum calcitonin monitoring, but we are keeping an eye out for changes in those recommendations. I suspect we’ll see a shift in this soon.”
“This probably wouldn’t change the way one prescribes but it is something to be aware of,” Dr. Yufei Chen, assistant professor of general surgery at Cedars-Sinai Medical Center, told ABC News.
